Burning Desire
by fandragon
Summary: The station is on fire and Andrea is inside. Sgt. Smith and DI Manson are both desperate to save her, but Gabriel as already there...
1. Chapter 1

At that moment, the world froze. Somewhere beneath him, the floor seemed to fall away, but all he could here were Smithy's words ringing in his ears,

"Andrea… Andrea's in there,"

Smithy himself was a sight. His voice choked with smoke, his face smeared with blood and soot, his uniform singed beyond recognition. At another time, Neil might have wondered if Sergent Smith knew what was between him and the young PC, but not now. Now all he could see was the burning station above him and here those words over and over again.

Suddenly, he ripped off his jacket, pulling it roughly over his face and ran into the burning building. The custody desk was shrouded in smoke and the air was so hot Neil felt as though his skin was burning through his clothing. Blindly he charged towards the centre of the station. He could feel sweat trickling down his back and his arms, even his face was drenched, or were they tears?

A door on his left suddenly burst into flames. It was the entrance to the female locker room. Neil had been heading for CID, but he veered sideways at the sound of a stifled cry. Someone was trapped, and then he heard her voice.

"Please… Help me!" Had she heard him? Neil looked for something to open the burning door and then he heard someone else, she wasn't alone.

"Why should I do that?"

"Please, I won't tell anyone what you did… Gabriel, if you leave me…" she seemed to be begging, struggling to breath, and for some reason, Gabriel wasn't helping her. There was something else, something Gabriel had done.

"If I leave you, you'll die. What better way of ensuring my secret stays safe?" Neil could hear him laughing. "Come on Andrea, you know what I did to Kerry, and she was actually carrying my child,"

At that point, it was more than Neil could take, he lifted his overly polished black business shoe, miraculously still shining amid the flames, and kicked the door as hard as he could. The door, already weakened by the flames, crumbled at his touch, but the sight that met Neil's eyes caught his breath.

Andrea was pinned to the floor and the fire was moving ever closer. Over her stood Gabriel, one boot crushing her outstretched hand. At his dramatic entrance, both turned to face him, caught in a frozen moment. Andrea's face was drawn white despite the heat, and although untouched by the fire, Neil could see her pain. Her eyes were filled with tears, not from pain, but an incredible pity for the man standing in front of her.

"She thinks it's too late," thought Neil. It couldn't be, he wouldn't let it. He'd just have to be strong enough for the both of them. There was no point confronting Gabriel here – it was too dangerous. Instead, he turned to the other man,

"Gabriel, thank God you came to help, I could never get her out of here alone." Gabriel's face was blank, and for a moment, Neil feared he may turn against them.

"Not at all Gov," Neil started forward, but while they talked, the flames had crept between them and the fallen door had lit the bottoms of the door frame. Unwilling to leave Andrea solely in Gabriel's care, Neil jumped the small wall of fire.

"Quick," His voice had grown hoarse with the smoke and all three of them were wheezing into the smog. "Andrea, put your arms round my neck," She struggled to obey, lifting her crushed hand and another arm grimy with semi-congealed blood. He held her body to him and pulled, but the weight was too great and he couldn't get her free. All the while the fire had been drawing alarmingly closer. In desperation he turned to Gabriel, but the other man was nowhere to be seen.

"Gabriel!" Neil's voice subsided into racking coughs, and through the doorway he could discern Gabriel's figure.

"Sorry Gov, I don't think I can help you," And with that, he turned and walked away running down the collapsing corridor towards the safety of the yard. At that point, Neil might have given up, but Andrea, who moments before had resigned herself to dieing there in that locker room in the company of the man who had killed her friend and many others before her, looked up at him.

Her strength was almost gone, and she didn't think she'd ever felt so much pain in her entire life, but she was in the arms of the man she loved and she had to keep going. "Neil," The word was whispered, but it was clear.

Again, Neil pulled and, although Andrea's legs weren't quiet free, they were making progress towards the door. At last they were in the corridor. Andrea let out an involuntary cry and Neil glanced down to see her pants had caught fire as they passed through the door. Desperately he tried to put out the flames with his jacket, blindly using his hands, anything to stop this nightmare, and he felt the pain seeping through the layers of his skin.

Neil was finding it harder and harder to breath. Slowly he tried to stand, painfully aware that every second was stealing from their chances of survival. He made it to his knees before falling to the ground, and in a last gesture of love he pulled Andrea to him, but she never knew, already unconscious at his side.


	2. Chapter 2

Smithy felt a searing pain as a paramedic tried to clean the cut on his forehead and he found his vision was blurring. Andrea, there was something about Andrea, and DI Manson… Everything was becoming blurred, but in an enlightening flash of clarity he remembered the DI running into the burning building. Was he back?

Frantically Smithy tried to look around him, every turn of his head bringing a dangerous wave of nausea. The paramedic started muttering about shock, begging him to stay still.

"You don't understand! It's the DI, I told him Andrea was in the station and he went back in." The paramedic tried to make out the incoherent ramblings of his increasingly anxious charge.

"Someone went back into the station?"

"Yes, the DI, the DI and Andrea," Smithy's eyes were widened in innocent entreaty and at that moment he looked more like a lost child than an ex-soldier. Suddenly, the paramedic was running full speed towards the fire crew. "There's a man who ran back into the station."

The fire chief turned sadly to the paramedic, "There a lot of men – and women, in that station, and for most of them, it's already too late." It was brutal, but it was true, this man had seen too many fires to harbour false hopes.

"This man just went in, he may still be near the entrance," The paramedic tried to reason away from the inevitable, he was used to people dieing, but to give up on them before even trying.

The fire chief sighed and gestured to one of his men. It was hard enough to put out fires without having to risk men for crazy people who ran into burning buildings. The man he called was married with a family of his own and two small children, but that was their job.

Inspector Gold made a cautious line for her Sergeant. She would never admit it, but he was like a son to her and somehow, she had come to care for him. He was sitting there, all alone and although his injuries didn't look life threatening, his eyes were vacant and Gina felt something pull inside her chest.

"Smithy," Her voice was soft, but commanding, pulling his focus to her. "You ok?" It wasn't the best of questions. Never one to admit weakness, Dale Smith was not likely to start now, but at least he was focusing on something real.

"Andrea's in there," He nodded helplessly towards the station. He knew he shouldn't care, they had never been together. She had been careful, kindly truthful with him, but somehow his mind was drawn back to Kerry, and he couldn't help the overwhelming sense of pain that filled him.

Gina could see the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, but what do you say to someone watching the girl they loved die. Instead, she squeezed his shoulder and sat down. They would wait together.

"I told him." Smithy's voice croaked and Gena broke her silence in confusion.

"Who?"

"Manson. I told him and he went back for her. If he dies, it'll all be my fault."

"Manson went back for Dunbar?" Gena would never have guessed it of him. Maybe he did have a heart after all and as the seconds passed she too started to regret every harsh word she had ever uttered about the DI and every scathing comment she had ever dealt the PC. "It's not your fault. If he gets her it'll be thanks to you."

At that moment, a choking Gabriel Kent stumbled into the yard. Paramedics ran forward to help him as he leant on the waiting shoulders, making a slow path towards the ambulance.

Smithy couldn't help grimacing at the coincidence of it all, that Gabriel should have been so close to the women he felt for – not that he felt for Andrea. But if he didn't, what was this? As he watched, Gabriel turned, oblivious to the medics fussing around him, and his eyes also focused on the door.

With suspicion, Smithy's eyes darted back to the entrance, and at that moment a medic ran through, Neil Manson in his arms. At that moment, his heart could have broken: it was too late, if Neil hadn't found her, no one would. Gina seemed to realise what he was thinking and as his head fell, she pointed.

"Smithy look," Together, they watched in amazement as a fire-fighter ran into the yard. Behind him, the very entrance crumbled and his silhouette was outlined by a blinding flash of flame. In his arms, he held the limp form of Andrea Dunbar.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sorry, forgot to include this on the first chapter, just to say that i don't own the Bill, or any of the characters in this story... hope you enjoy!**_

Yvon Hemmingway liked to think she was a compassionate person. It wasn't hard, her life was filled with acts of unprompted kindness, but it had taken all her self control, and her memories of past mistakes, to bring her to the bedside of Andrea Dunbar.

The woman, who only a few short weeks ago, she would have considered one of her closest friends, had become something she hardly recognised. Perhaps, and the thought was an unwelcome one to Yvon, she wouldn't be here if the nurses hadn't told them there was little chance of recovery.

It was two days since the accident and still Andrea remained dead to the world, and for all Yvon could tell, dead to herself as well. Her dark hair fell in loose ringlets about her face, and she seemed to have shrunk to little more than a child. The rasping of her respirator and the monotonous beeping of the machines by the bed were all that lay between Yvon and her thoughts.

"Why Andrea?" Yvon whispered the question she might never have a chance to ask.

"Crazy isn't it?" Yvon spun round to see Sgt. Smith standing in the doorway. One arm in a sling and a dark cut across his forehead, he leant against the door frame, whether for support or out of choice, Yvon couldn't tell. "You think you know someone, and then they turn around and slap you in the face."

"I don't think she ever meant for this to happen, things just slipped out of her control," Smithy smiled wryly at Yvon's assertive defence.

"Yvon, nothing will change the fact that Andrea spent months befriending us, all so she could sell our most embarrassing secrets," There was an intensity in Smithy's face that Yvon had never seen before. Obviously, there was slightly more to this than his words permitted.

"Well if you feel like that, why bother coming?"

Smithy hesitated in his tracks. "This is an official matter." His words were short, but there was a pain in his voice and his eyes strayed to the bed.

For a moment, they were both mesmerised by the laboured rise and fall of Andrea's chest, where each breath seemed a momentous effort. Life was so tenuous; a thread ready to snap at the first application of pressure, but somehow, despite the odds, still in one piece.

"The doctor's report says there were signs of assault – before the other injuries…" Yvon's eyes caught the dark bruises on the side of Andrea's neck, she herself had been wondering how they had come about. "Seeing she was in the station, the Super thought it advisable that someone look into it."

Yvon's eyes softened. "What happened to you Andrea?" Her thoughts were echoed by Smithy's own, but he was still not ready to admit to them. Instead, he tried to keep his mind official. There was no point getting caught up in the sordid lives of PCs. Surely he had learnt that by now.

"You don't know of any family she might have had do you Yvon? We haven't been able to find any." He moved to the other side of the bed, where the second hospital chair was packed with Andrea's clothes and belongings. He lifted them, so that he could sit, but at that moment, a singed piece of paper caught his eye.

Carefully he drew it out from amongst the pile of material. It was dirty and one corner burnt altogether, but it was still clear. In the middle of the newspaper cutting was a photograph of Gabriel, arm in arm with the sniper.

The breath caught in Smithy's chest and he sat suddenly on the seat before him. So, she had succeeded at last. Here was the proof that had nearly killed her – and still might. He had suspected a connection, even gone so far as to say there was one, but now that he held conclusive proof in his hand, everything came to him at once: all the people who had suffered so much, all the lies, all the doubts and recently, all the disregard, with which he had treated Andrea.

He had to find the Super. Quickly he rose from his chair before a confused Yvon. He was about to make an excited dash for the door, when it opened of its own accord, and Bruce Malcolm walked in.


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey everyone, thankyou for all the feedback... it's great. I know this is only a very short chapter and not much happens, but think of it as an instalment and hopefully I'll have time to post the next chapter soon._

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When Neil Manson opened his eyes, he wanted to believe that the Andrea, Gabriel and the fire had all been one vivid and particularly nasty nightmare. He wanted to find himself in Andrea's comfortable double bed with Andrea herself, safely held in his arms, but it was not to be.

Rather, as his eyes eventually adjusted to the blinding glare of the hospital lights, they came to focus on the stern face of Inspector Gold. He found that he was not in Andrea's bed at all but a thin hospital mattress and the burning pain from his lungs suggested that the fire was all too real.

As his eyelids flickered, Gina gave a relieved sigh. "It's nice of you to have you with us again Neil." She didn't tell him about the anxious moment two nights ago when the doctors had said he wouldn't make it. She didn't mention that his wife wasn't here today because she had an important hearing, but now he was awake she glanced at him with interest.

"The Super has given strict instructions, that the moment you're capable of questioning he should be informed." Inspector Gold was slightly annoyed over this point. For the past two days Adam Okaro had refused to tell her why he so urgently needed to speak to the DI.

Meanwhile, the words held no two meanings for Neil. How clearly he remembered the Superintendent's ultimatum the morning of the blast.

"You must choose between her and your career."

Neil laughed to himself. It shouldn't be a hard choice for a selfish workaholic like the man he'd become, but it was. He very much doubted he would nave made it through till now if not for the memory of Andrea's face. Her cheeky little smile and those big serious eyes and the dark ringlets that never managed to stay where she pinned them, and more than anything, her voice, amidst all her own pain, encouraging him on, "Neil…"

And at this memory, he suddenly realised that the last time he had seen her was unconscious in a burning corridor. With grim determination, he lifted one hand, surprised to see it covered in bandages and slowly removed the oxygen mask.

For a moment, that was all he could do, then he whispered, "The others… did they make it?"

Gina paled a little. "Ken Drumond died at the scene, Marilyn, yesterday." Glancing again at his expectant face, she sighed, "Smithy's still in hospital and Miss Dunbar is unconscious."

And with a satisfied smile Neil fell back into the soft embrace of slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thankyou for all the great feedback and to all the people who have been waiting for the next chapter... enjoy! **

_Smithy was about to make an excited dash for the door, when it opened of its own accord, and Bruce Malcolm walked in…_

* * *

For a moment, the two just stared. Smithy was beyond hatred, and if he'd managed to convince himself that his feelings for Andrea were purely platonic his conscious took a sudden reality check. How dare this man, who had been the source of so much of Andrea's pain, how dare he come now, when she was on the verge of death? Was there anything else he could steal away? But glancing at the bed Smithy saw there was.

Yvonne was standing behind him, and Smithy wasn't sure he'd ever seen a woman look so scary. Drawn to her full height, she looked like some giant mother hen returning to its primal instincts. However, Bruce was obviously braver than Smithy had anticipated, because he remained firmly where he was.

"What are you doing here?" The words spat out covered in the disdain.

"Why shouldn't I visit my favorite reporter?" Bruce smiled, his eyes laughing at some private joke. "After all, for all you know she could be the love of my life."

Smithy's nerves were well beyond snapping point, but thankfully, he was not alone. It was only Yvonne's strong voice which saved Malcolm from a broken nose. She may have been deceived, but Yvonne _knew_ Andrea. She knew her favorite drink and that she was afraid of spiders, and the way she liked to wear red. God, she even knew Andrea was in love with a married man!

"You shouldn't visit her because she doesn't want to see you." (And she can't) Yvonne thought sadly to herself. At these words, Malcolm just shrugged. Why was getting anything out of Andrea Dunbar always so difficult?

"We had an arrangement. She was supposed to meet me the afternoon of the blast. I'm just here to collect something, and then I'll go."

To Yvonne's consternation and Malcolm's relief, Smithy suddenly relaxed a notch. "OK, go ahead. Yvonne, watch him, I have to go see the Super."

Then he walked out of the room, the newspaper cutting safely tucked into the pocket of his uniform. He headed straight for DI Manson's room. The last he had heard, the Inspector had been stationed there almost permanently, but as he walked in, a shocking sight greeted his eyes.

Gabriel was leaning over Manson's bed, his hand resting on the switch to his respirator. Beneath him, the DI was peacefully asleep, his chest gently rising and falling, laboured, but definitely there. As the Smithy watched in horrified fascination, Gabriel flicked the switch and a piercing beep filled the room. Suddenly Manson's chest seemed to freeze, and the regular breaths were replaced by strangled gasps for air.

"Gabriel!" Smithy yelled now, running towards the dieing man. At the sound of his name, Gabriel spun, and seeing he had been caught in the act, he looked desperately for an explanation, but this time, there were no convenient scapegoats, no lies. This was straight out murder. So he did the only thing he could, he turned and ran.

Smithy's first instinct would have been to follow, but on the bed, Neil Manson was slowly suffocating to death. Smithy knew what it felt like to have smoke fill your lungs till it felt like there was no room left to breath, and even now, he probably couldn't have chased Gabriel without collapsing in an asthma attack at the first sight of stairs. So he hurriedly righted the respirator, pulling a mobile from his pocket.

Neil's gasps turned to a hacking cough, so violent that for a moment Smithy was sure Gabriel would succeed in his deadly plans. Then, just as he was starting to panic again, a nurse ran in with Inspector Gold.

On sight of Smithy's traumatized face, Gina drew in a sharp breath. "What on earth happened here?" Unable to answer coherently, Smithy reached into his pocket and pulled out the battered newspaper cutting. Gina's face slowly turned as white as her Sergeant's and she reached for her mobile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry to all those fans who just want Andrea and Neil to get back together, it seems to be taking slightly longer than expected (mostly thanks to the evil actions of Gabriel Kent). I shall have to think up a suitably horrible punnishment. Meanwhile, the drama continues for those at Sun Hill. PS. Thankyou so much for all the feed back - it's great!**

* * *

So that was how, when three days after the explosion, Andrea Dunbar opened her eyes to the sight of Bruce Malcolm rifling through her pockets. For a moment, she thought she was still lost in the dream world that had consumed her consciousness for the past two and a half days, but the sight of Yvonne's cynical countenance was like a pinch on the arm. Fascinated she watched, detached from the scene in front of her, as this man she despised became increasingly agitated.

"Someone's taken it." Bruce didn't like to show how he was feeling, all too aware of how easy it was to manipulate the vulnerable, but his disappointment was palpable in his words and even in her dazed state, things were starting to sink into place for Andrea.

She tried to stretch her memory back, where was she? Why was she here? But all she could remember was Neil's angry face and the pain of his words. He was a DI, and she, she was a probationer, pretending to be a reporter: if only.

Suddenly, Bruce caught sight of Andrea's wandering gaze. He stopped his searching and brought his face so that it was directly in front of her own. She could smell the sugary peppermint breath from between the coffee stained teeth, and he whispered,

"Where is it Andrea?"

Andrea would have liked to tell him, just to be left in peace, but in all honesty, she had no idea of what he was talking about. Little fragments of memory were teetering on the edges of her mind, but they were still too insubstantial to grab hold of. each time she reached out, they would slip through her fingers like mist and she was left even more confused than before. In pitiable confusion she turned to Yvonne.

"What's he talking about?" Yvonne smiled. There had been a time in the last twenty-four hours when she had felt she would never do that again, but there it was. There was something remarkably pleasing about Andrea's amnesia at this poignant moment when Bruce so desperately wanted, what Yvonne had a sneaking suspicion, Smithy had already taken from the room.

"I've no idea Andrea. Sir," Yvonne turned with her most authorities voice towards Bruce, "I think it would be best if you leave, you seem to be upsetting Miss Dunbar and we wouldn't want to arrest you for disturbing the police."

"That's bullocks! I'll have POLICE HARRASMENT as my next headline."

"And I'll be looking forward to it," There were definitely some perks to this job, "Now would you please leave."

Just as an angry Bruce Malcolm was retreating into the hospital corridor, Yvonne's radio crackled to life.

"Urgent assistance required room 1180, emergency, St. Hughes."

"That's the DI's room," Yvonne remarked to Andrea. "Well, I suppose I better go and see what's happened.

Yvonne hurried from the room, inadvertently leaving an anxious Andrea and overly interested Bruce in her wake.


	7. Chapter 7

By the time Yvonne reached the Inspector, DI Manson's room was filled with a hectic assortment of police and paramedics. Inspector Gold, despite the pandemonium, or perhaps because of it, seemed even more austere than usual, and called her troops to order with a sharp, "Sun Hill."

"Now, this is a very serious matter, and I'm afraid, at this stage I can't actually release any details of the situation, but it is imperative that we locate and apprehend PC Gabriel Kent as soon as possible. I know I am asking a lot for you to arrest a fellow officer, but I expect you will all display extreme professionalism about this. Once Kent is under control, there is to be no conversation and NO violence." She paused to analyse the faces of the officers before her. "Now scoot."

Unbeknownst to the Inspector, every word of her speech had just been recorded by Sun Hill's new secret journalist, and as the officers filed out into the corridor with a mixture of apprehension and excitement, Bruce Malcolm slipped into the fire escape.

Meanwhile, Andrea Dunbar, finally conscious and left to her own devices, slipped from her bed. Her legs felt weak, as though she had run a long distance and fallen down at the end of the race. Still, she was determined to make it to room 1180. If Neil was in trouble, this time, she wouldn't let him down.

With agonising slowness, she hobbled towards the door of her room. Each step an achievement she finally made it to the door. It wasn't until she got to the stairs that she finally admitted defeat. It was just too much, that now, when she was finally being honest, she was separated from him by mere physical impossibility. She sat on the bottom step in her hospital gown and cried.

Sergeant Dale Smith, although he'd never admit it, was suffering shock. Just days after narrowly escaping an explosion he had almost witnessed a murder. As soon as Gina had finished speaking, he had made an inconspicuous exit, and, taking the first convenient corridor, had found himself on an almost deserted staircase. Just as he was starting to recover, the soft sounds of stifled sobs reached his ears. Slowly, and with a slightly over-cautious step, he made his way silently down the stairs.

The sight that greeted him at the bottom was probably the last thing that had entered his mind. There, in noting but a hospital night gown sat Andrea. Oblivious to everything except her own exhaustion and misery, she didn't hear Smithy's step.

Later, Smithy would never be able to explain exactly what came over him. He knew it was against everything sensible and reasonable, but some inexplicable force drew him towards the forlorn little figure and he sat down next to Andrea and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Andrea, in turn, let herself fall against the strong chest, and although it wasn't the one she dreamt of she snuggled into the warm arms and took the comfort she so desperately needed.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that, frozen in that embrace. Each holding onto each other like they were the last two people in the world and letting go might cause the world to fall down around their shoulders. They were still holding each other when Gina Gold came running down the stairs.

Unable to cope with the obstacle at the bottom of the stairs and the nature of that obstacle at the same time, the forbidden couple sent the Inspector tumbling into the corridor below.

At once, Smithy jumped to his feet, helping Gina to her feet, but it was too late, the was no taking back what the Inspector had already seen.


End file.
